Patient

 

A few things going on this week....I managed to finally see one of the public health nurses at the hospital for my annual flu vaccination which has helped so much over the last 3 years since I've been getting it. The above photo is only of a small section where I was waiting, the main reception area and lifts/stairs etc are around the corner to the left.

I'm one of those people who doesn't get seriously ill, apart from the odd sinus infection or mild flu. But we are coming into the Winter season in June when hospitals here will be inundated with sick people as seeing a doctor is too expensive in some places. Here on the West Coast we pay a small amount but in some of the larger cities it can be over $50 and not everyone can afford it so I consider myself to be pretty fortunate that I can.

Where I live the local hospital is very modern and only a few years old but in a lot of other places in New Zealand the hospitals are barely run by tight constraints, under funding, under staffed and they sorely need upgrading and renovating as most were built in the 1950s and 1960s. 

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, Shadow Shot Sunday and The Weekend Roundup.

Open

 

We are starting to get some darker mornings and shorter nights here as Autumn creeps in. People are now wearing warmer clothing and we have just put the electric blanket back on the bed. Daylight savings has just ended and luckily so far we have plenty of wood in preparation for Winter. B use to work at one of the local sawmills just outside of town and he was allowed to take home all the leftover offcuts which we have some stored in the carport next to the garage and the rest is in an old concrete structure next to the house. Lucky it hasn't been cold enough to start using it.

This weekend is going to be interesting. The north island of New Zealand is about to be hit with a whopping cyclone from the Pacific Islands so if you're up that way (like my family) stay safe.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Newspaper

 

Autumn is in full swing here on the West Coast. On one particularly blustery windy day I walked next door from my work to a cafe/bakery to buy myself a coffee, this place is always busy as they make awesome food - lots of buns, cakes, biscuits, filled rolls, hot pies etc. I'm surprised to see so many campers still driving around given the current petrol situation. Apparently a load of diesel has recently arrived into New Zealand but my car uses normal 91/regular but at least it doesn't use much, it's a very economical car.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Mirror

 

Last week on the 18th March it was my 55th birthday. My sister travelled down in her campervan from Northland to spend the week with us, which was lots of fun. I took the week off work so one thing we did was visit our local historical museum named "Shanty Town". It's basically an old gold mining town set up to show how life use to be complete with old buildings such as a church, saloon, grocery store, train rides, gold panning etc. There in the saloon you can pay for photos to be taken by a photographer of you dressed up in old time costume.

On the left is me, the middle is my middle child who is 27 years old and transitioning from girl to boy and on the right is my sister. I think we all look amazing don't you?

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Looking

 

We drove to Hokitika earlier this week to check out the shops and instead of showers and rain which were originally forecast, we had beautiful warm sunny Autumn weather. 

Further to my earlier post about petrol prices here, I did end up filling up my car half way so no panicking here.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Kid

 

Photo taken on a bit of an overcast early Autumn day. The temperature is slowly starting to cool down here. A few nights ago we reluctantly moved the thick mink blanket from the top of the wardrobe onto the bed for 2 days and the cats have been noisily sneaking in our bedroom in the early hours of the mornings.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Just waiting

 

I spotted these 2 ladies waiting at a bus stop in town. Now Greymouth is a small town to live in so we don't have a bus service as there are literally 3 main streets full of shops and most suburbs are closer by so people use cars or bikes (cycles and motorbikes). There is apparently a bus that takes people on a 3 hour journey to Christchurch each day so I am assuming that this is what they are waiting for. Behind them is the train station, Subway, The Warehouse and then further along is Woolworths.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Impatient

 

I was walking to one of the local supermarkets last week before work and couldn't help but notice this tourist on the right pacing back and forth looking at his phone. This scene is next to the train station so I wonder if he was waiting for a taxi or for a friend to pick him up.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Happy

 

These are popular vehicles in New Zealand. We saw these 2 at Fox River last weekend sitting in the carpark. Many tourists will rent these campavans from various companies to travel around in. 

I'm pleased to say that this particular weekend was stinking hot and throughout the year we see alot of them travelling but in Summer they increase. Tourists are always nice people who love to chat with the locals.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup, All seasons, Shadow Shot Sunday and Mosaic Monday.

Girl

 

Photo taken of a girl on Orewa Beach last year

It seems that we have had a great late Summer finally happen. After all the rain and Spring temperatures we now have warmth and sun and heat. I have pumpkins growing in my vege garden along with kale, spinach and various herbs and they are loving it. I'm not looking forward to Winter but with Autumn due in March, we are feeling a definite slight change in the air in the early mornings.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, All seasons, The Weekend Roundup, Shadow Shot Sunday and Mosaic Monday.

Friendly

 

Last week I was in town checking out a new shop named "Ginger Rose" which has been in business for a while but I'd never been in. I have trouble finding a decent shampoo for my hair so I was pleased to see they stocked herbal shampoo bars so I bought one to try out.

On my way back to my car I was stopped by some very friendly but anxious tourists who had just come off the Tranzalpine train who were searching for a taxi as there were none around so I called the local ones who were very quick and picked them up within 5 minutes. It's nice to help others.

Summer is nearly at an end when March comes although we have had some amazing hot temperatures over February. I heard from a friend who lives further south in Ashburton, she said they had snow a few days ago with 2 degree temperatures at night. Summer in the Southern Hemisphere has been weird this year.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, All seasons, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Earthquake prone

 

There are a few buildings here on the West Coast that are earthquake prone and in order to be safe, they need to have alot of strengthening done to them. This one in a main street in town from what I've heard use to be a restaurant and over the 4 years that we have lived here, it has been empty with warning signs on the front door. Last week I noticed that there were renovations being made to it, so hopefully it will be reopened eventually as another business.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Dinner

 

Down this stretch of one of the main streets in Hokitika it's full of restaurants and cafes. Some of them I've tried and the rest I haven't.....yet. 

I don't know if any of you have seen the news stories this week of New Zealand weather. At Mount Maunganui they had a major slip from Mauao (the iconic mountain) which ended up destroying some of the campground there and quite a few people are still missing. The North Island has had quite a bad Summer so far.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Car

 

So far this year we have had the most rotten Summer. Last year we had a drought and most days we got up to 32 degrees celsius. This year we and most of the country have had rain and overcast skies. 

On one warm sunny day B and I took my daughter's dog Bug down to the local Grey River for a paddle in the water.

This photo shows her in the back of the car with her head out the window, as she loves to do.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Blue skies

 

This was taken a few days after Christmas in town along one of the main streets outside the second hand bookshop, they had a little tree in the window surrounded by different books.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup, Shadow Shot Sunday and Mosaic Monday.

Afternoon

We had a very quiet boxing day here. My 2 adult children plus B and I dared to venture into town to see what sales were on. We snooped at The Warehouse and got one or two deals on marked down clothing and I spent my Christmas gift voucher they got me at Mitre 10 so I could buy some more vegetable punnets and lavender plants. My boss and his wife who are from India had given me a $50 voucher to their restaurant that they also own so B and I used it to get Vegetable Korma and Mushroom Masala for our dinner that night. We waited at a table just after lunch time so it wasn't that busy, just the man on the left and a family to the right of us.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Zealous

 

Someone is very "zealous" in their protesting about what is happening in Israel. I'm not taking sides, in fact I think they are both just as much to blame - war is stupid, just my thoughts on the matter.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

Yuletide

 

 

All of these Christmas decorations have been seen in local Greymouth stores over the last 2 weeks. 

I think this year for the first time in a long time I'm feeling more festive. The last 7 years on and off I have worked in various supermarkets and let me tell you, people go absolutely nuts just because shops are closed for 1 day. I've seen people getting into punch ups over who would go through a checkout first and I've seen people get nasty and rude with no Christmas spirit at all. This year I'm working in a nice place with great colleagues and nice customers - no angst at all so I'm really feeling a lot happier.

Linking up with The Weekend Roundup, Xmas Linky and Mosaic Monday.

Xmas decorations

 

Greymouth has 3 main streets in town. On the way home from work at night I've been stopping to take photos of some of the shop window decorations. It's good to see businesses getting into the Christmas spirit. Please remember: I live in a small town, all shops except supermarkets close around 6pm so there aren't many people around in these photos at 8pm.

So, sorry for the name change of this blog, I just thought it was time for a change. Please update your blog address for me.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.

White

 

Despite us still having Spring weather when it's meant to be early Summer here, we seem to be experiencing a regular supply of tourists. This bus was parked in front of the local Asian Sampan Restaurant. There is a lot of white in this shot with the driver and a passenger walking towards the steps.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, The Weekend Roundup and Mosaic Monday.